One thing that makes a book great is its uniqueness.
This story of a Turkish physician who finds himself in the court of Queen Elizabeth I and who becomes involved in the intrigue concerning the success of James I is unlike anything I’ve read before. It felt thoroughly authentic and compelling.
While thephysician's charactern is fictional, the period’s conflict between Protestants and Catholics is very real and was an added, informative element of the novel.
Queen Elizabeth’s spymasters recruit an unlikely agent—the only Muslim in England—for an impossible mission in a mesmerizing novel from “one of the best writers in America” (The Washington Post)
“Evokes flashes of Hilary Mantel, John le Carré and Graham Greene, but the wry, tricky plot that drives it is pure Arthur Phillips.”—The Wall Street Journal
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE WASHINGTON POST
The year is 1601. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, childless. Her nervous kingdom has no heir. It is a capital crime even to think that…
This book of American history was fascinating on several levels.
First, I didn’t know very much about President Garfield, so I was delighted to learn about his background, what a great man he was, and what a great president he might have been. Second, the insane man who shot him was intriguing in his own right, and it’s amazing how much we have learned about him.
Finally, the fact that Garfield’s death was really the result of medical failures—treatments that hadn’t incorporated the most recent scientific discoveries—was shocking.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The extraordinary account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from the bestselling author of The River of Doubt.
James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Garfield…
Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors, and I appreciated this novel because of the way it borrows a story from Charles Dickens (David Copperfield) and sets it in a context that is relevant for us today.
In addition, the author does an excellent job of challenging Appalachian stereotypes while acknowledging the reality of social conditions in the region. Most importantly, she makes it clear where the blame for those harsh conditions lies—not on the people themselves but on the mining and pharmaceutical conglomerates that have long exploited the residents and resources of the area.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
Ollie Tucker, a recent college graduate and student of philosophy, is obsessed with truth and the source of knowledge, questioning the validity of everything he hears from his parents, his girlfriend, and even the voices inside his head. In pursuit of the truth and life's deeper meaning, he invents an alter ego, Oliver, who lives the adventurous and exotic existence Ollie cannot. But Ollie has another problem--a repressed memory of his uncle Scotty that threatens to derail his life, his relationships, and his sexuality. But the memory is a blur. And what he thinks he remembers, he knows is unreliable. The uncertainty is paralyzing. What is the truth? What has his subconscious fabricated? When he learns that his uncle, long-presumed dead, is in fact alive and well, Ollie realizes that to move on with his life and find peace, he must confront his uncle.
